Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage‘s release date keeps getting delayed. Now, the Venom sequel has been given a one-week release date push, as reported by Variety. The new date for Venom 2‘s theatrical release is September 24, moved from its previously September 17 date. The news comes less than two weeks after Venom 2 moved from June to September, in order to escape F9’s much-anticipated premiere.

With the new date, Venom 2 will no longer premiere at the same time as Death on the Nile and The Boss Baby: Family Business. Even if both films are not direct competitors, any advantage is a welcomed one while the box office suffers because of the pandemic. Instead, Venom 2 will be opening alongside Dear Evan Hansen and The Sopranos prequel feature The Many Saints of Newark. By premiering in late September, Venom 2 comes to theaters just before Dune, the long-awaited book adaptation of Denis Villeneuve that’s expected to grab all the public’s attention when it releases.

The Venom 2 delay is just one of many changes in theaters’ releases for big-budget films, as every studio tries to adapt to the pandemic to changes from one another. Just yesterday, the Saw franchise sequel Spiral also received a release date change, and Guy Ritchie’s heist pic Wrath of Man moved two weeks further into the 2021 calendar. Until we get the pandemic under control and movie theaters reopen widely, we can expect this release date dance to keep going.

Venom 2 will now get to theaters on September 24, with 3D, IMAX and premium large formats included. Without a simultaneous streaming release, Sony is betting on Tom Hardy’s charisma to bring another box office surprise to the studio. We still have six months until Venom 2 releases in the middle of a crowded calendar, but just like Sony (and every other major studio), we hope things will have come back to some kind of normal by then, and we’ll be able to once again enjoy the pleasure of watching every possible movie on the big screen.

via Collider